Sweet Maria’s Emailer Roundup – January, 2021

Our monthly digest from the Sweet Maria’s Email list, announcing new coffees, new content and new events!

January 2021 offerings are all listed here, for your reference. If you want to read about our arriving coffee, events, product and news, sign up for our emailer.


January 6, 2021

Deciding on coffees

Happy New Year! Did you get a new roaster for Christmas or make a resolution to take your roasting to the next level? One of home roasting’s challenges is figuring out what coffees to order next or how to replace a favorite that has gone out of stock. Knowing the origin, cultivar and flavor attributes of the coffee you like can be a big advantage when sorting through what can seem like endless offerings. Also, take advantage of the filters on the left side of our green coffee offering pages to refine our list down to just the coffees you will enjoy.

Green Coffee Preview

We have some great coffees on the way this week. Stay tuned for a Peru Fair Trade/Organic, an Ethiopian Dry Processed Yirga Cheffe and other great coffees from Colombia, El Salvador, Kenya and Nicaragua.  Also, look out for a restock of Monkey Blend, New Classic Espresso, French Roast and Liquid Amber blends.

Calendars and roasted
  • A fresh year deserves a fresh wall calendar. Purchasing a 2021 Sweet Maria’s Cars of Coffee calendar will help us contribute to Food 4 Farmers, Girls Gotta Run, Grounds for Health, Coffee Kids and World Coffee Research.
  • Our roasted coffee selection is really good right now. Choose from Monkey Blend, Liquid Amber, Costa Rica and Ethiopia while supplies last.

January 8, 2021

January 8, 2021 - Latest Coffees
January 8, 2021 – Latest Coffees

As promised, we have a great selection of coffees to offer this week along with a restock of our classic blends.

Peru Fair Trade Organic Don Edy – This dense, high-grown coffee bean holds up to heat, offering notes of sugar in the raw, syrupy dark chocolate, hints of dried fruit, moderate acidity depending on roast level. Good for espresso.

Colombia Buesaco Alianza Granjeros – A caramel-sweet overtone, aromatic butterscotch note, hints of fruit, dried date and an herbal accent in the aftertaste. Acidic impression like brisk black tea when roasted light. Good for espresso.

El Salvador Santa Ana Pacas ACaramel sweetness, clean nut tones, marzipan, candied almond, rounded mouthfeel, chocolate-coated nut, toffee and a moderate, green apple acidic impression.Good for espresso.

Ethiopia Dry Process Yirga Cheffe Aricha – City and City+ roasts show notes of strawberry, apricot and tart fruited notes that add clean brightness to the flavor profile. Fruits are intertwined with chocolate roast flavors in the long finish.

Kenya Kiambu Fram Farm AB – Intensely sweet coffee, flavors of maple and fragrant dark sugars, and moderate fruited characteristics that include cooked stone fruits, grapefruit, and black currant tea, lead into complex baking spice aroma.

Nicaragua Granjeros De Las Brumas – A versatile coffee that excels at medium and dark roast levels, chocolate bittering, burned sugar, almond-like nut notes and a heavy, lactic mouthfeel. Good for espresso.
Blends are back
New Classic Espresso – A classic, balanced espresso, but without the baggage of the old world espresso conventions …and without robusta! The espresso has balanced bittersweet notes, thick and opaque body, almond and chocolate roast flavors, hints of peach tea, spice, jasmine.

French Roast Blend – Designed to endure the rigors of dark roasting, and produce excellent pungent tastes, attractive bittersweet/carbony flavors, and great body.

Liquid Amber Espresso Blend– A potent, pungent blend for espresso beverages. It’s ideal for milk drinks, as this intense bittersweet cuts through the steamed milk. Rustic sweetness, spice, savory notes, long aftertaste. Monsooned coffee and a small percentage of Robusta add crema and body.

Decaf Espresso Donkey Blend – Fruited cup profile, some sweet bright accents, medium body. FC+ to a light Vienna is recommended.

Espresso Monkey Blend – We blend this for body, balanced between high and low tones, fruited-chocolate roast flavors, and slightly rustic fruited accent notes. Our roast goal is in the beginning stages of 2nd crack … we never “let it roll”, so we recommend FC+ to light Vienna roast.

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Check out our Green Coffee Outlook for January. We are making it monthly post to help our customers stay informed on what coffees are scheduled to show up on our offerings list.


January 13, 2021

Latest Sumatra

Looking to roast something exciting and rare? Step out of line a bit and try our latest aged Sumatra. Keep in mind it’s physical appearance is a little odd, brownish in color, mottled, but this is normal for aged coffee. Aged coffee is not just old coffee. It’s actually monitored, rotated and cupped during the aging process.

Sumatra Aged 5 Years Nusantara – Aged Sumatra coffee is so intense: syrupy sweetness, notes of fresh herb, aromatic woody, cherry, leather, black pepper, cacao…it’s all there, and more. Extra long, earthy finish.

Behmor preheating

Unlike air roasters or commercial drum roasters, Behmors start off from room temperature and get up to roasting temp a little slower since it’s heating elements are relatively farther away from the coffee. This is not necessarily a bad thing since some coffees benefit from a slow ramp of heat. Other coffees can benefit from preheating. Check out our latest article in which we answer a lot of common questions about giving your Behmor a few extra degrees before starting your roast. Please share your own experiences or ask us any questions in the comments section. We’d love to hear from you


January 15, 2021

January 15, 2021 - Latest Coffees
January 15, 2021 – Latest Coffees
Honduras Los Andes Doña Daisy – City+ straddles the line between sweetness and roast bittering, cooling to cup flavors of molasses, brown sugar, an orange accent, and mild, lemon-like acidity. Good for espresso.

Brazil Dry Process Fazenda Furnas – Notes of caramel-coated peanut, stewed fruit, molasses, barley malt, banana bread and baking cocoa. A big-bodied coffee that is a great blend option too. Good for espresso.

Costa Rica Helsar Miguel Rojas Rola – Medium roast levels produce an unrefined sugary-sweet base, blanced sweet and bittering chocolate flavors, mild acidity, hints of walnut, roasted almond, and apple. Good for espresso.

Ethiopia Organic Shakiso Kayon Mountain Farm – Unrefined sugar sweetness is cut through by a rindy citrus flavor, fruited accent notes of orange and dried strawberry, aromatic herbals, Earl Grey and hibiscus teas, and a soft floral jasmine note.

Brazil Dry Process Pedra Branca – Robust cocoa roast flavors are matched by unrefined, molasses-like sweetness, with dried banana and berry accents, and rum candy in the aroma. Good for espresso.
Behmor resources

The Behmor is an awesome roaster that roasts up to a pound at a time. It burns off most of the roast smoke too. Over the years, we have written a lot of helpful information about it and were able to compile it all into one handy dandy resource page.

popper scavenging

Popcorn poppers are great DIY coffee roasters that many folks choose as their first roaster because of how cheap and easy they are to use. Some experienced home roasters continue to use poppers as their main machine for those same reasons. Interested in getting one? Sure, you can always buy one from us or you can scavenge for one at your local thrift store. Check out our classic video where Tom did just that.


January 20, 2021

January 20, 2021 - Latest Coffees
January 20, 2021 – Latest Coffees
Sumatra Lintong Sigumpar Village – A complex Sumatra with syrupy, rustic sweetness, earth and herbal notes, licorice, and aromatic wood. Intense chocolate roast bittering when roasted dark.  Good for espresso.

Sumatra Kirinci Coop Honey Labu – This hybrid process is underscored by earthy sweetness, with flavor notes of stewed plum, jack fruit, pipe tobacco, aromatic woody incense, and intense chocolate bittering. Good for espresso.
Cars of coffee calendar

January is already in full swing and your wall or fridge is begging to be adorned with a Sweet Maria’s 2021 Cars of Coffee calendar. Pick one up for only $10 and help us support Food 4 Farmers, Girls Gotta Run, Grounds for Health, Coffee Kids and World Coffee Research.

540 extension tube

Want to improve the bean movement and heat output of your Fresh Roast SR540 roaster? Installing an extension tube should do the trick.

SR540 tube

January 22, 2021

January 22, 2021 - Latest Coffees
January 22, 2021 – Latest Coffees
Honduras El Sauce Finca El Plan – Bittersweetness, mild acidity, big body, top notes hint at cream soda, caramel and creamy nut, whereas Full City roasts tip the scales in favor of dark chocolate. Good for espresso.

Honduras Santa Barbara Jose Esteban – The middle roast range brings out sweetness, balance and body, producing an all-around accessible cup of coffee. Notes of toffee, Brazil nut, pecan, chocolate.

Kenya Nyeri Ichamama Peaberry – Ichamama brews up fruited flavors of cranberry juice, blackberry, pomegranate, tamarind, as well as hefty body and a vibrance that indicates tart berry and citrus juice.

Colombia Urrao Heirloom Caturra – The patient drinker will be rewarded, top notes flourish as the cup cools, dark stone fruit, berry, baking spices, brisk, black tea, atop a grounding brown sugar sweetness and Root Beer finishing note.

Guatemala Antigua Pulcal Inteligente – Brown sugar, hints of herbal tea in light roasts, and apple at a wider roast range, a balanced cup, with enough top-note complexity to make it a highlight in our Central American lineup.  Good for espresso.

Ethiopia Dry Process Mahamed Aba Nura – The sweetness is pronounced in the brewed coffee, with discernible flavors of blackberry, dried blueberry dusted with dark cocoa powder, and a subtle floral aroma. A complex pour over brew.
Giling Basah

Giling Basah is a form of wet processing native to Indonesia. Instead of letting the wet processed coffee dry for weeks, the wet coffee, still in parchment, is dried and transported for about 2-3 days before it is hulled. Hulling coffee when it’s wet and soft can result in damage to the beans and the drying process afterwards isn’t always done in the most protected or consistent environments. In the end, all this comparatively unorthodox processing leads to a unique cup, low in acidity and a lot of body.

SIni Cups

New coffee cups…not mugs…not tea cups, but traditional Ethiopian Sini cups! Commonly seen all over Ethiopia, these beautiful tulip shaped cups fit nicely in the hand. We offer them in six packs. Three red and three green. Grab a few sets for yourself and a friend. It was no easy task getting them here so it’s nice to finally have them in stock.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and coffee from Ethiopia is probably the most popular origin among Sweet Maria’s customers. Check out our online coffee library to learn more about this amazing coffee origin.


January 29, 2021

January 29, 2021 - Latest Coffees
January 29, 2021 – Latest Coffees

Kenya Nyeri Rukira AA – Layers of sweet flavor notes like buttery toffee and caramelized sugar fill out Rukira’s bottom end, with hints of blackberry, pomegranate, plum and grapefruit. Good for espresso.

Ethiopia Uraga Tebe Haro Wato – Overt floral aromatics are contrasted by musky wood-spice accents, vibrant acidity, lemon juice, citrus pith, natural dried peach, jasmine, and sandalwood.

El Salvador Santa Ana Pacamara AAA Lot 2 – Focused sweetness with flavors of nougat, brown sugar and caramel, marked by top notes of black tea with lemon, vanilla bean and a mock orange floral aromatic hint. Light roasts shimmer with vibrant acidity. Check out how wet mills in El Salvador are working toward energy independence.

Sumatra Wet Process Gunung Tujuh – What a unique, wet-process Sumatra, pumpkin pie, burned sugar, caramel, yellow custard, citrus peel and an herbal overlay that includes notes of basil and dried sorrel. Learn more about wet processing in our library.

Guatemala Huehuetenango Chalum Lot 2 – Sturdy sweetness, candied walnuts and milk chocolate, dried apple, hints of berry and baking spiced aromatic note. Chocolate flavors are more substantial at Full City. Good for espresso.

Guatemala Proyecto Xinabajul La Libertad – Caramel and maple, a roasted almond note, hints of tangerine and other sweet citrus. Layers of opaque chocolate flavors dominate Full City and beyond. Good for espresso.

Peru Fair Trade Organic La Convención – Base flavors of brown sugar and cocoa, with fruited hints of juicy apple, baked pear, and baking spice aromatics. Incredibly clean and crisp acidity for Peru too.

Tom's Picks

Staff picks is back and Tom’s at the controls this time around. Click Here and read about what coffees the co-owner of Sweet Maria’s enjoys drinking.

Burundi - coming soon

Our stock of Burundi coffee has run out. Bummer! Don’t worry, we have more on the way and expect to make them available next week, hopefully on Wednesday!

Roast theory

Want to dive into coffee roasting ideas, roast profiles, principles and a little coffee science? Click on over to our Roast Theory page where we have compiled years of articles and videos about how and why coffee turns brown when you heat it up.

cars of coffee calendarcini cups

Remember to get your 2021 Cars of Coffee calendar while supplies last. Pick up a set of Ethiopian coffee cups too!


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